1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front end construction of an automotive vehicle body and particularly to an improved front end construction for attaching a front end module having a radiator core to a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle front end construction for attaching a front end module to a vehicle body is disclosed by way of example in Japanese patent provisional publication No. 9-309460.
In case a modularized, one-piece radiator core is attached to a vehicle body in the process of body main assembly after painting, an engine compartment excluding the radiator core is assembled first. Due to this, the prior art vehicle front end construction encounters a problem in that the engine compartment lacks rigidity at the time of assembly (i.e., in the processes of body main assembly and metal line), thus deteriorating the accuracy of, particularly, the radiator core attaching portion of the front end of the engine compartment. To solve such a problem, the above described publication proposes to carry out attachment of the radiator core by temporarily attaching a jig to the front end of the engine compartment in such a manner that the jig extends laterally across the vehicle body and detaching the jig after the processes of body main assembly, metal line and painting.
However, use of such a jig causes a problem of an increased number of operation processes and a deteriorated workability.
Another problem is that in case the module is detached at the time of repair service, the vehicle body will bend due to the input (i.e., the weight of the vehicle body of itself) which is supplied thereto from the suspension, the dimensional accuracy of the vehicle front end construction is deteriorated considerably, thus making it difficult to attain accurate reattachment of the front end module.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved front end module attaching construction of a vehicle body which enables a front end module to be attached to a vehicle body with ease and accuracy.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved front end construction of a vehicle body which is of the foregoing character.
To attain the above object, the present invention provides a front end module attaching construction of a vehicle body, which comprises a pair of front end module attaching portions of the vehicle body, which are disposed adjacent suspension attaching portions of the vehicle body, a pair of lateral end portions of a front end module, which are opposed laterally and extended rearward of the vehicle body to have rearward sections, and a device for securing the rearward sections of the lateral end portions of the front end module to the front end module attaching portions of the vehicle body.